Well, I've finally left Australia and have made my way to Christchurch, NZ. It was really hard saying goodbye to everyone on my last day in Canberra but overall I think the anticipation of New Zealand helped me to deal a lot. This is my second day in Christchurch and I'm looking forward to Queenstown. I'm especially looking forward to bungee jumping and Milford Sound.
I think I must have put some bad Karma out recently because the universe seems to have been doing its best to get even the last three days. It started on Friday when I realized that I had forgotten to bring my ID to my last exam. I had to rush through to the exam so that I would have time to run home and get it before the exam time finished. I was leaving the next day so I definately didn't have time to make it to the examinations office before I left. The rest of Friday went well. Went out to celebrate at Southpac, my favourite Australian dive. But the mishaps began again the next day. Turns out the one time I had wanted to go the the Airport I had accidently booked myself on to the express bus with no airport stops. So I had to get a cab to the airport, and it turns out that I'm the first passenger of the day so the only way a the cabbie can give me change for my 50 is in change. So now without any bills, I am forced to use a credit card to get money at the exchange booth and guess what huge extra fee to use a credit card. Then when I finally got to Christchurch one of the sniffer dogs at the airport jumped on me so I had to have my bags searched, that wasn't a big deal but just another thing to add to the day. When I finally got to the hostel I realized that something had spilled all over inside my cosmetics bag. Everyone has a bad day sometimes so I went to bed looking forward to the next day. That didn't work out much better as I 1. lost my keycard for the room incurring a charge of $10- and 2. lost my passport.
I now have recovered my passport after getting a message that it had been given to the airport police so I'm now hoping that everything will be better from now on. Something always goes wrong on every trip so hopefully that is it.
Other than the above, I've really had a great time in New Zealand so far. Yesterday after noticing everyone was starting to line the streets I decided to wait around and see what was happening. Turns out yesterday was the annual Christmas parade. I think that was the first time i've even gotten a bit of a burn waiting for Santa. The parade was pretty good though. After that I headed to the botanical gardens for a walk (and nap) before going to the Canterbury Museum which had some good exhibits.
Today, after heading to the airport for my passport I decided to take in the International Antartic Centre seeing as I was already in the area. That was pretty good. They had this antarctic storm simulation. Basically you bundle up in coats and they put you in this room with snow and drop the temperature and create fake wind. I've lived through far worse, was not impressed. Makes me thankful that I'm here enjoying beautiful weather instead of back home in the cold.
That's all for now.
